Archive for February 27th, 2013

Another post commenting on Chapter 20 of Give Us a Dollar and We’ll Give You Back Four (2012-13)–now available as a $9.99 Kindle ebook or $21.95 paperback with ISBN 978-1481279161 on Amazon, along with the usual Lulu options. Note that Lulu prices for the paperback and hardback versions are now lower.

The 249 libraries profiled (two omitted) are generally well supported, with 61% in the top four brackets. The benefit ratio is consistently over 5 before adjusting for Ohio’s 92.8% cost of living, and over 4.8 after that adjustment.

Circulation is strong: 28% of libraries circulate 24 or more items per capita and 74% circulate at least 10 (compared to 6% and 38% overall); only tree libraries circulate fewer than four items per capita. Expenditures correlate consistently with circulation. Patron visits are also strong, with 51% having seven or more visits per capita (compared to 33% overall). The budget table is striking for circulation: the median for libraries with the best funding is just under 43 circulation per capita (and 38 of the libraries are in that top bracket). The correlation between spending and circulation is also consistent in the budget table.

Program attendance is slightly on the high side of typical, as is PC use.

Libraries by legal service area

LSA

Count

%

Outliers

<700

0.0%

1

700-1,149

3

1.2%

1,150-1,649

3

1.2%

1,650-2,249

3

1.2%

2,250-2,999

6

2.4%

3,000-3,999

6

2.4%

4,000-5,299

12

4.8%

5,300-6,799

24

9.6%

1

6,800-8,699

14

5.6%

8,700-11,099

26

10.4%

11,100-14,099

21

8.4%

14,100-18,499

14

5.6%

18,500-24,999

19

7.6%

25,000-34,499

23

9.2%

34,500-53,999

26

10.4%

54,000-104,999

28

11.2%

105,000-4.1 mill.

21

8.4%

Circulation and spending per capita

Circulation per capita correlates very strongly (0.84) with spending per capita.